Many people collect things: antiques, stamps or
coins. Not unusual. Animal hoarders, sometimes known as \"collectors\",
are people who accumulate animals beyond their space, time, and
financial ability to cope. Animal hoarding transcends simply having
more than the typical number of animals. The working definition of a
hoarder is someone who:

• Accumulates a large number of animals.
• Fails to provide minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, and veterinary care.
• Fails
  to act on the deteriorating condition of the animals (including
  disease, starvation, and even death), or the environment (severely
  overcrowded and unsanitary conditions).
• Fails to act on or recognize the negative.

We\'ve
all seen news stories showing dozens of sickly cats being removed from
a \"garbage house\". We wonder how it began and how things got to that
point. Dr. Gary Patronek of Tufts University has begun a study with
professors at other universities to better understand how and why
people change from animal lovers to animal abusers. Nearly 2,000 cases
are reported each year nationally. From numerous case studies Dr.
Patronek found some very interesting statistics:

• The majority (76%) of hoarders were female and 54% were under 60 years of age.
• 70% were unmarried.
• The most frequently involved animals were cats (65%), dogs (60%) and birds (11%).
• There was a median number of 39 animals per case, but many exceeded 100 animals.
• In
  80% of cases, there were animals that were dead or in poor condition,
  and in 58% of these, the hoarder would not acknowledge that a problem
  existed.
• 60% of the hoarders studied were repeat offenders.

One
common and peculiar characteristic of people who hoard animals is a
persistent and powerful belief that they are providing proper care for
their animals, despite clear evidence to the contrary. This is true
even in cases where the home is so filthy and neglected that it must be
torn down. A reasonable argument has been made that, in some cases,
hoarders of inanimate objects have suffered from Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder (OCD), a recognized psychological disorder. Recent studies tie
animal hoarding to OCD. Two major features of OCD: people with this
syndrome experience an overwhelming sense of responsibility for
imagined harm to animals, and they engage in unrealistic steps to
fulfill this responsibility.

Often the mere sight of an animal in need of a home prompts an emotional attachment so powerful that the animal must
be acquired. Once acquired, the animal receives very little attention
to its most basic needs, because attention has already been turned to
the next \'rescue\' effort. There is reluctance to relinquish any
animals, even when responsible caring homes are available.

Our
understanding of this problem is still very limited. While animal care
specialists recognize these people are in need of psychiatric help,
almost no psychiatric literature exists on this topic. Researchers are
trying to convince public officials that mental health treatment of
offenders would be more helpful than criminal prosecution, since
punishment has not been proven to prevent recurrence.

Not every
person living with multiple animals is a hoarder. Many people are
capable of caring for several animals, and many people do legitimate
rescue work out of their homes. We simply need to be aware of the
existence of this problem, and be careful not to enable those who may
be acquiring animals for the wrong reasons, or in the wrong situations.
Remember that when it comes to animals, \"Love is NOT all you need.\"

Special
thanks and acknowledgement to Dr. Gary Patronek, VMD, Ph.D., Director
of Tufts University\'s Center for Animals, for his permission to share
the results of his studies.